by Peter Watson
36. Ibid., page 8.
37. Farrell, Op. cit., page 40.
38. Duff, Op. cit., page 19.
39. Farrell, Op. cit., pages 54–55.
40. Jones et al., Op. cit., page 214.
41. Ibid., page 218.
42. For the authority of classical Latin, and its metres in poetry, see: Philip Hardie, ‘Questions of authority: the invention of tradition in Ovid’s Metamorphoses 15’, in Thomas Habinek and Alessandro Schiesaro (editors), The Roman Cultural Revolution, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1997, page 186.
43. Jones et al., Op. cit., page 232.
44. Ibid., page 234. Moynahan, The Faith, Op. cit., page 28.
45. Moynahan, Op. cit., pages 241–242.
46. Jones et al., Op. cit., page 234.
47. Colish, Op. cit., page 24.
48. Jones et al., Op. cit., page 239.
49. Ibid., page 240.
50. Grant, Op. cit., page 71.
51. Ibid., page 262.
52. William V. Harris, Ancient Literacy, Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1989, page 19.
53. Ibid., page 328.
54. Ibid., page 32.
55. Ibid., page 35. Some modern scholars have argued that literacy–writing–made it possible for the Greeks to organise city-states and, no less fundamental, that writing kick-started philosophy and science by stimulating a critical attitude by allowing rival arguments to be set out side-by-side. Ibid., page 40. Another argument is that writing enabled laws to be displayed in public, aiding the spread of democracy. In turn, these arguments have been dismissed as ‘woolly’. Ibid., page 41. Even so, it seems clear that the vast Roman empire could not have been built without the help of writing, or literacy. How else could one man send out orders over thousands of miles and expect his authority to be obeyed?
56. L. D. Reynolds and N. G. Wilson, Scribes and Scholars: A Guide to the Transmission of Greek and Latin Literature (third edition), Oxford: The Clarendon Press of Oxford University Press, 1968/1991, page 25.
57. Jones et al., Op. cit., page 266.
58. Harris, Op. cit., page 202.
59. Ibid., pages 204–205.
60. Ibid., page 214.
61. Reynolds and Wilson, Op. cit., page 5.
62. Ibid., page 22.
63. Ibid., page 25.
64. Ibid., page 22.
65. Jones et al., Op. cit., page 263.
66. Ibid., page 217.
67. Boorstin, The Seekers, Op. cit., page 146.
68. Jones et al., Op. cit., pages 259–261.
69. As for the ‘literary’ graffiti, most had spelling errors after the first three or four words, implying that the phrases had been memorised and copied by hands unfamiliar with the orthographical rules of Latin.
70. See Jones et al., Op. cit., page 264.
71. Ibid., page 269.
72. For some of the ‘urbane’ values in Rome see: Andrew Wallace-Hadrill, ‘Mutatio morum: the idea of a cultural revolution’, in Habinek and Schiesaro (editors), Op. cit., pages 3–22.
73. Jones et al., Op. cit., page 272.
74. Reynolds and Wilson, Op. cit., page 3. For papyrus, see also: Bernhard Bischoff (translated by Dáibhi Ó Cróinin and David Ganz), Latin Palaeography: Antiquity and the Middle Ages, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1991/2003, page 7.
75. Reynolds and Wilson, Op. cit., page 4.
76. Ibid., page 8.
77. Ibid., page 11.
78. Ibid., pages 31ff.
79. Lindberg, Op. cit., page 138.
80. Reynolds and Wilson, Op. cit., page 33.
81. William H. C. Frend, The Archaeology of Early Christianity, London: Geoffrey Chapman/Cassell, 1996, pages 34–36, which discusses early codices.
82. Reynolds and Wilson, Op. cit., page 35.
83. J. M. Ross, introduction to: Cicero, The Nature of the Gods, London: Penguin Books, 1972, page 7.
84. Ibid., page 59.
85. R. H. Barrow, The Romans, London: Penguin Books, 1949/61, page 156.
86. Ibid., page 165.
87. Cicero, Selected Works, London: Penguin Books, 1960/71, Introduction by J. M. Ross, page 11.
88. Ibid., page 12.
89. Ibid., page 25.
90. Virgil, The Aeneid, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986/98, introduction by Jasper Griffin, page xvii. Boorstin, Op. cit., pages 145f, says it took Virgil eleven years to compose the Aeneid.
91. Lindberg, Op. cit., page 125.
92. Ibid., page 126.
93. Ibid.
94. Ibid., page 129. See Bernal, Op. cit., pages 222–223 for a brief overview and the fact that Galen was translated fully into English only in 1952.
95. Lindberg, Op. cit., page 130.
96. Jones et al., Op. cit., page 295.
97. Ibid., page 292.
98. Boorstin, Op. cit., page 63.
99. Jones et al., Op. cit., page 245.
100. Ibid., page 288.
101. W. G. De Burgh, The Legacy of the Ancient World, Op. cit., page 256.
102. Jones et al., Op. cit., page 290. Pasiteles and his workshop, for example, specialised in pastiches–statues which, for instance, combined the head from one Greek original with the posture of another.
103. Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, London, 1788, chapter 3. I have used the Dell version, published in New York in 1963.
CHAPTER 10: PAGANS AND CHRISTIANS, MEDITERRANEAN AND GERMANIC TRADITIONS
1. Ferrill, Op. cit., page 12.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid., page 15.
4. Ibid., page 17.
5. Turner, The Great Cultural Traditions, Op. cit., page 270.
6. Ibid., pages 270ff. Bauer, Op. cit., page 57, discusses a ‘Gospel of the Hebrews’.
7. Turner, Op. cit., page 273.
8. Ibid., pages 275–276.
9. Ibid., page 278. This embarrassing fact may also explain why the gospel of Mark transfers the responsibility for Jesus’ execution from Pontius Pilate to the Jewish leaders. Ibid. Some modern scholars believe that Brandon exaggerates the meaning of the term ‘zealot’–that they were more bandits than full-scale revolutionaries.
10. Ibid., page 279. Moynahan, Op. cit., page 36, considers the four brothers of Jesus.
11. Freeman, Op. cit., page 108.
12. Rowland, Op. cit., page 195.
13. Turner, Op. cit., page 280.
14. Rowland, Op. cit., page 216. See Moynahan, Op. cit., pages 23ff, for Paul’s conversion and the importance of Antioch in early Christianity.
15. Turner, Op. cit., page 317.
16. Ibid., page 318.
17. Rowland, Op. cit., pages 220ff.
18. Turner, Op. cit., page 374.
19. Ibid., page 375. Moynahan, Op. cit., page 26 for the details.
20. Freeman, Op. cit., page 121.
21. Ibid., page 119.
22. Prudence Jones and Nigel Pennick, A History of Pagan Europe, London: Routledge, 1995, page 53.
23. Armstrong, A History of God, Op. cit., page 109.
24. Ibid., page 110.
25. Jones and Pennick, Op. cit., page 55.
26. Ibid., page 57.
27. Ibid., page 58.
28. Lane Fox, Op. cit., pages 168ff; Moynahan, Op. cit., page 29, for the links between Stoicism and Christianity.
29. Lane Fox, Op. cit., page 94.
30. Ibid., page 30, but see Chapter 25 of this book.
31. Ibid., page 299.
32. Another idea, not exactly anathema to pagans, but seen by them as irrational, was that of angels. These divine presences had apparently been conceived in late Judaism (among the Essene sects at Qumran, who wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls, for example), and Paul had made much of them on his travels. They appeared at times of crisis, to help believers, and so the early years of the church were especially favourable circumstances.
33. See Robin Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, London and New York: V
iking, 1986, chapter 9, pages 419ff, for the violence of this time.
34. Jones and Pennick, Op. cit., page 62. Bauer, Op. cit., pages 24f.
35. Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, Op. cit., page 567.
36. Turner, Op. cit., page 377. See Moynahan, Op. cit., pages 70ff, for the different tortures used on martyrs and the different ways they devised for being crucified.
37. It should not be overlooked that his immediate predecessor, Galerius, had issued an edict of toleration in 311 on his deathbed. Many consider this, rather than the conversion of Constantine, the turning-point in religious history. Jones and Pennick, Op. cit., pages 64–65. In 311 the same man reported how the people of several cities had approached him to plead for a renewed persecution of the Christians. Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, Op. cit., pages 612–613.
38. Jones and Pennick, Op. cit., page 65. Bauer, Op. cit., page 45, for the role of Julius Africanus and that of the early bishops. And see Moynahan, Op. cit., page 104, for Julius’ role in specifying holy sites, such as that for Noah’s Ark.
39. Turner, Op. cit., page 1054.
40. Ibid., page 1057. Moynahan, Op. cit., page 76, for the problems faced by Diocletian and Valerian.
41. Turner, Op. cit., page 1059.
42. Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, Op. cit., pages 613–614. Moynahan, Op. cit., pages 91–93, for a vivid description of the battle of the Milvian bridge.
43. Jones and Pennick, Op. cit., pages 68–69.
44. Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, Op. cit., pages 150–151.
45. Jones and Pennick, Op. cit., page 75.
46. Lane Fox, Pagans and Christians, Op. cit., page 670.
47. Armstrong, A History of God, Op. cit., page 147.
48. The number seven was chosen because that was the number of sub-leaders appointed by the Apostles in Jerusalem. Turner, Op. cit., pages 1070–1071.
49. Ibid., page 1075.
50. Ibid., page 1076.
51. However, he was forced to surrender church vessels and gold. Moynahan, Op. cit., page 154.
52. Turner, Op. cit., page 1080.
53. Ibid., and Moynahan, Op. cit., pages 129ff.
54. Turner, Op. cit., page 1080.
55. Monks were not allowed to wash and had to cover their heads at meals, because Pachomius thought that eating was ‘an unbecoming act’. Ibid. See Moynahan, Op. cit., page 133, for Pachomius and his method for the prevention of fraud.
56. Norman Cantor, The Civilisation of the Middle Ages, New York: HarperCollins, 1963/1993, page 149.
57. Ibid., page 149.
58. Turner, Op. cit., page 1095, and Moynahan, Op. cit., page 44 for early Christian writing.
59. Turner, Op. cit., page 1096.
60. Ibid., page 1097.
61. Ibid., page 1104. See Moynahan, Op. cit., pages 115–116, for the Montanist beliefs about diet.
62. The ‘Muratorian Fragment’, so called after its discoverer Muratori (1672–1750), was written at about this time and its layout suggests that Roman congregations had by then long regarded the canon as divinely inspired.
63. Turner, Op. cit., page 1112.
64. Moynahan, Op. cit., pages 56–57.
65. Armstrong, A History of God, Op. cit., page 113.
66. Ibid., page 118. See Moynahan, Op. cit., page 46, for Origen’s doubts about Paul’s authorship of ‘his’ epistles.
67. Turner, Op. cit., page 1114.
68. Ibid.
69. Barrow, Op. cit., page 364.
70. Colish, Op. cit., page 22.
71. St Augustine, Confessions, London: Penguin Books, 1961, introduction by R. S. Pine-Coffin, page 11. Moynahan, Op. cit., pages 144ff, for a vivid picture of the young man, with his hard-drinking father and his boisterousness.
72. He had a further weakness for being liked, a fault (as he saw it) which led him to rob an orchard as a boy and as an adult to admit to crimes he had not committed.
73. Colish, Op. cit., page 28.
74. Ibid. In his later books he carried this thinking further. In On Order, for example, he considers two types of evil–natural and moral. An example of a natural evil is an earthquake. It is evil because innocent people suffer. At the same time, however, earthquakes in the long run enhance the fertility of the soil, so they are also good. This is not so much an explanation as an explaining away: the residual Neoplatonist in Augustine was alive and well. Moral evil was more difficult, and he admitted as much. Some of it could be explained away–two examples he gives are sewers and prostitutes, both of which are evil in the short term, but both of which are needed in the wider scheme, to maintain order. But Augustine always had a problem with, for example, murder. He couldn’t explain that away, and he couldn’t explain why God allowed it. See Moynahan, Op. cit., page 149, for a discussion of Augustine’s idea of predestination.
75. Armstrong, A History of God, Op. cit., page 126.
76. Ibid., page 135.
77. Ibid., page 142.
78. Colish, Op. cit., page 29.
79. Ibid.
80. Armstrong, A History of God, Op. cit., pages 139ff.
81. Ibid., page 145. But see Moynahan, Op. cit., page 149 for what he says is Augustine’s denial of original sin.
82. Moynahan, Op. cit., pages 192ff, for Gregory’s administrative genius.
83. Colish, Op. cit., page 40.
84. The full moon shows the glory of perfection, to which man must aspire, and which only Jesus attained. Accurate dating of future festivals was also important because early Christians believed that to celebrate Easter too soon was sacrilegious. To do so meant you thought you could be ‘saved without the assistance of God’s grace’, hubris on a colossal scale. To celebrate too late was also sacrilegious–it meant you didn’t care, were not assiduous in the profession of your faith. The date of Easter was thus pivotal, and many other feasts depended on it. Richards, Op. cit., pages 345ff.
85. Ibid., page 350.
86. Moynahan, Op. cit., page 57, for details about the early variations in the celebration of Easter.
87. Ibid., pages 1–2.
88. There was even a tradition that the rules of the computus had been disclosed to St Pachomius, the fourth-century Egyptian monk, who had been visited by an angel. See Bauer, Op. cit., pages 152–154 for details.
89. Richards, Op. cit., page 350. Regarding the changing nature of Christianity, see, for example: Peter Brown, The Cult of the Saints, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1981/1982; and R. A. Markus, The End of Ancient Christianity, Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press/Canto, 1990/1998.
90. Ferrill, Op. cit., pages 17–18.
91. Ibid., page 18.
92. Ibid.
93. Ibid., page 17.
94. Ibid.
95. Arno Borst, Medieval Worlds: Barbarians, Heretics and Artists in the Middle Ages, London: Polity, 1991, page 3.
96. Ibid.
97. Ibid., page 5.
98. Ibid.
99. Ibid.
100. Ibid., page 6. See Moynahan, Op. cit., page 152, for St Augustine’s reaction.
101. Borst, Op. cit., page 6.
102. D. Herlihy, Medieval Culture and Society, London: Macmillan, 1968, page xi.
103. William Manchester, A World Lit Only by Fire, New York and London: Little Brown, 1992, page 3.
104. Ibid., page 5.
105. Ibid.
106. Ibid., page 7.
107. Ibid., page 15.
108. Peter S. Wells, The Barbarians Speak, Princeton, New Jersey and London: Princeton University Press, 1999, page 100.
109. Ibid., page 103.
110. P. J. Geary, The Myth of Nations: The Medieval Origins of Europe, Princeton, New Jersey and London: Princeton University Press, 2002, page 64.
111. Wells, Op. cit., pages 107–108.
112. Ibid., page 108.
